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Number of Syrian refugees could triple this year, U.N. warns

The number of Syrian refugees, who already total more than 1 million, could double or even triple this year if the conflict continues unabated, the United Nations top refugee official said Sunday. “If this escalation goes on … and nothing happens to solve the problem, we might have in the end of the year a much larger number of refugees, two or three times the present level,” U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres told reporters in Ankara, Turkey. (..) He urged the international community to work toward ending the conflict and said that continued war carries the “risk of an explosion” throughout the volatile region.